The invention concerns a conveyor apparatus for shock-sensitive products and the like comprising a conveyor belt with at least one individual compartment for receiving at least one product, an upwardly directed conveyor belt section, a downwardly directed conveyor belt section, and an upper deflection means for deflecting the conveyor belt out of the upwardly directed conveyor belt section into the downwardly directed conveyor belt section, wherein the individual compartment is defined or delimited by a first support surface for supporting a product deposited therein in the upward conveying movement, a second support surface for supporting a product deposited therein in the downward conveying movement, and a bottom surface for supporting the product in the movement of the conveyor belt over the upper deflection means.
Such conveyor apparatuses are used for example in many sectors in the manufacturing industry. A typical application for such conveyor apparatuses is transporting hen eggs within a henhouse building. A typical structure of a henhouse building for egg-laying poultry provides that the cages or aviaries are arranged along a plurality of rows of cages in a mutually parallel relationship and stacked one above the other in a plurality of levels. The eggs when laid are conveyed to the end of the henhouse building by means of longitudinal conveyor belts extending along the rows at each level. It is usual for the eggs to be conveyed on the longitudinal belts of each row, that are stacked one above the other to their ends, and onto a transverse belt in order to convey them by means of the transverse belt out of the henhouse building for further processing.
In order to implement the transposition of the eggs from the longitudinal conveyor belts which are stacked vertically one above the other onto the transverse conveyor belt, use is usually made of an elevator or conveyor apparatus which takes the eggs from the individual longitudinal conveyor belts and conveys them upwardly to a deflection means, by means of an upwardly directed conveyor belt section. In that deflection means, the eggs are conveyed over the highest point of the conveyor apparatus, and are thereafter conveyed downwardly onto the transverse belt, by a downwardly directed conveyor belt section.
For that purpose, it is known to use an endless conveyor belt, which is divided by upper and lower deflection rollers into two runs, comprising an upward run and a downward run. Arranged at uniform spacings relative to each other on the conveyor belt are separating walls which extend substantially perpendicularly to the conveyor belt surface and transversely with respect to the conveyor direction and which form individual compartments between them. The eggs can be conveyed in those compartments both in the upwardly directed and also in the downwardly directed conveyor direction and, if the separating walls are of a suitable configuration, for example with a suitable front edge, it is possible, even in the case of a vertical conveyor direction, to prevent the eggs from dropping out of the compartment.
A problem with those previously known conveyor apparatuses is that the spacing between two separating walls usually has to be selected to be greater than would be required by the dimension of the egg to be conveyed. That is necessary to permit the compartments to be loaded and unloaded and in order to be able to deal with any eggs which are standing up or with variations in size among the eggs. A disadvantage which occurs as a result of that however is that the eggs must move, in the region of the upper deflection means, from the support surface involved in upward conveying to the support surface involved in downward conveying and that is typically effected by the egg rapidly rolling around within the compartment after passing over the highest point of the deflection means. As a result, the egg is frequently so greatly accelerated, and upon coming into contact with the support surface for downward conveying, experiences such a high shock force, that damage to the egg takes place.
A further disadvantage of the known conveyor apparatuses is that often they can be adapted to specific conditions within the henhouse, only through a high level of complication and expenditure. Thus, it is often desirable to select the width of each individual compartment to correspond to the eggs supplied per unit of time, and thus individually adapt the vertical conveyor apparatus to the local factors involved. Hitherto, that can only be achieved with special designs of vertical conveyor belts, and in addition, can no longer be modified subsequently, for example in the event of enlargements to the henhouse.
Finally, a further disadvantage of the known conveyor apparatuses is that they are of a predetermined structural height, due to the predetermined length of the vertical conveyor belts, and thus in this respect also can be adapted to local factors, only through a high level of complication and expenditure.